diff --git a/src/dataframe/dataframe.jl b/src/dataframe/dataframe.jl
index 84043c80fa..75d49e9588 100644
--- a/src/dataframe/dataframe.jl
+++ b/src/dataframe/dataframe.jl
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ particularly a Vector or CategoricalVector.
 
 ```julia
 DataFrame(columns::Vector, names::Vector{Symbol}; makeunique::Bool=false)
+DataFrame(columns::NTuple{N,AbstractVector}, names::NTuple{N,Symbol}; makeunique::Bool=false)
 DataFrame(columns::Matrix, names::Vector{Symbol}; makeunique::Bool=false)
 DataFrame(kwargs...)
 DataFrame(pairs::Pair{Symbol}...; makeunique::Bool=false)
@@ -173,6 +174,13 @@ function DataFrame(columns::AbstractVector{<:AbstractVector},
                      Index(convert(Vector{Symbol}, cnames), makeunique=makeunique))
 end
 
+DataFrame(columns::NTuple{N, AbstractVector}, cnames::NTuple{N, Symbol};
+          makeunique::Bool=false) where {N} =
+    DataFrame(collect(AbstractVector, columns), collect(Symbol, cnames), makeunique=makeunique)
+
+DataFrame(columns::NTuple{N, AbstractVector}) where {N} =
+    DataFrame(collect(AbstractVector, columns), gennames(length(columns)))
+
 DataFrame(columns::AbstractMatrix, cnames::AbstractVector{Symbol} = gennames(size(columns, 2));
           makeunique::Bool=false) =
     DataFrame(AbstractVector[columns[:, i] for i in 1:size(columns, 2)], cnames, makeunique=makeunique)
diff --git a/src/other/tables.jl b/src/other/tables.jl
index 2a36ad298c..25965188f4 100644
--- a/src/other/tables.jl
+++ b/src/other/tables.jl
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ function DataFrame(x)
     if x isa AbstractVector && all(col -> isa(col, AbstractVector), x)
         return DataFrame(Vector{AbstractVector}(x))
     end
+    if applicable(iterate, x)
+        if all(v -> v isa Pair{Symbol, <:AbstractVector}, x)
+            return DataFrame(AbstractVector[last(v) for v in x], [first(v) for v in x])
+        end
+    end
     if Tables.istable(x)
         return fromcolumns(Tables.columns(x))
     end
diff --git a/test/constructors.jl b/test/constructors.jl
index 3b8a3fdfe2..a4dc846fcd 100644
--- a/test/constructors.jl
+++ b/test/constructors.jl
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ const ≅ = isequal
 #
 @testset "constructors" begin
     df = DataFrame()
+    @inferred DataFrame()
+
     @test isempty(_columns(df))
     @test _columns(df) isa Vector{AbstractVector}
     @test index(df) == Index()
@@ -22,16 +24,42 @@ const ≅ = isequal
 
     @test df == DataFrame([CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(zeros(3)),
                            CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(ones(3))])
+    @test df == DataFrame([CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(zeros(3)),
+                           CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(ones(3))], [:x1, :x2])
     @test df == DataFrame(Any[CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(zeros(3)),
                               CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(ones(3))])
+    @test df == DataFrame(Any[CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(zeros(3)),
+                              CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(ones(3))], [:x1, :x2])
     @test df == DataFrame(AbstractVector[CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(zeros(3)),
-                                         CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(ones(3))])
+                                         CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(ones(3))], [:x1, :x2])
+    @test df == DataFrame((CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(zeros(3)),
+                           CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(ones(3))))
+    @test df == DataFrame((CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(zeros(3)),
+                           CategoricalVector{Union{Float64, Missing}}(ones(3))), (:x1, :x2))
     @test df == DataFrame(x1 = Union{Int, Missing}[0.0, 0.0, 0.0],
                           x2 = Union{Int, Missing}[1.0, 1.0, 1.0])
-
-    @test (DataFrame([1:3, 1:3]) == DataFrame(Any[1:3, 1:3]) ==
-           DataFrame(UnitRange[1:3, 1:3]) == DataFrame(AbstractVector[1:3, 1:3]) ==
-           DataFrame([[1,2,3], [1,2,3]]) == DataFrame(Any[[1,2,3], [1,2,3]]))
+    @test df == DataFrame([:x1=>Union{Int, Missing}[0.0, 0.0, 0.0],
+                           :x2=>Union{Int, Missing}[1.0, 1.0, 1.0]])
+    @test df == DataFrame((:x1=>Union{Int, Missing}[0.0, 0.0, 0.0],
+                           :x2=>Union{Int, Missing}[1.0, 1.0, 1.0]))
+
+    @test DataFrame([1:3, 1:3]) == DataFrame(Any[1:3, 1:3]) ==
+          DataFrame(UnitRange[1:3, 1:3]) == DataFrame(AbstractVector[1:3, 1:3]) ==
+          DataFrame([[1,2,3], [1,2,3]]) == DataFrame(Any[[1,2,3], [1,2,3]]) ==
+          DataFrame(([1,2,3], [1,2,3])) == DataFrame((1:3, 1:3)) ==
+          DataFrame((1:3, [1,2,3])) == DataFrame([1:3, [1,2,3]])
+          DataFrame((:x1=>1:3, :x2=>[1,2,3])) == DataFrame([:x1=>1:3, :x2=>[1,2,3]])
+
+    @inferred DataFrame([1:3, 1:3])
+    @inferred DataFrame((1:3, 1:3))
+    @inferred DataFrame([1:3, 1:3], [:a, :b])
+    @inferred DataFrame((1:3, 1:3), (:a, :b))
+
+    if VERSION ≥ v"1.0.0"
+        # this test throws an error on Julia 0.7
+        @inferred DataFrame((:x1=>1:3, :x2=>[1,2,3]))
+        @inferred DataFrame([:x1=>1:3, :x2=>[1,2,3]])
+    end
 
     @test df !== DataFrame(df)
     @test df == DataFrame(df)
@@ -87,6 +115,7 @@ end
 
 @testset "pair constructor" begin
     df = DataFrame(:x1 => zeros(3), :x2 => ones(3))
+    @inferred DataFrame(:x1 => zeros(3), :x2 => ones(3))
     @test size(df, 1) == 3
     @test size(df, 2) == 2
     @test isequal(df, DataFrame(x1 = [0.0, 0.0, 0.0], x2 = [1.0, 1.0, 1.0]))
@@ -97,6 +126,7 @@ end
 
 @testset "associative" begin
     df = DataFrame(Dict(:A => 1:3, :B => 4:6))
+    @inferred DataFrame(Dict(:A => 1:3, :B => 4:6))
     @test df == DataFrame(A = 1:3, B = 4:6)
     @test eltypes(df) == [Int, Int]
 end
diff --git a/test/tables.jl b/test/tables.jl
index d561720765..4114caf844 100644
--- a/test/tables.jl
+++ b/test/tables.jl
@@ -106,7 +106,11 @@ Base.propertynames(d::DuplicateNamesColumnTable) = (:a, :a, :b)
         @test_throws ErrorException (dn |> DataFrame)
 
         dn = DuplicateNamesColumnTable()
-        @test_throws ArgumentError (dn |> DataFrame)
+        if VERSION ≥ v"1.0.0"
+            @test_throws ArgumentError (dn |> DataFrame)
+        else
+            @test_throws MethodError (dn |> DataFrame)
+        end
 
         # non-Tables.jl constructor fallbacks
         @test DataFrame([(a = 0,), (a = 1,)]) == DataFrame(a = 0:1)
diff --git a/test/tabletraits.jl b/test/tabletraits.jl
index 3e9dd3b565..53827a99dd 100644
--- a/test/tabletraits.jl
+++ b/test/tabletraits.jl
@@ -24,13 +24,14 @@ end
     @test collect(IteratorInterfaceExtensions.getiterator(sdf)) ==
         [(a=1, b=DataValue(1.0)), (a=2, b=DataValue{Float64}())]
 
-    df = DataFrame(ColumnSource())
-
-    @test size(df)==(3,3)
-    @test df.a==[1,2,3]
-    @test df.b==[4.,5.,6.]
-    @test df.c==["A", "B", "C"]
-
+    if VERSION ≥ v"1.0.0"
+        df = DataFrame(ColumnSource())
+
+        @test size(df)==(3,3)
+        @test df.a==[1,2,3]
+        @test df.b==[4.,5.,6.]
+        @test df.c==["A", "B", "C"]
+    end
 end
 
 end # module